The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Today, a wide variety of computing devices, including many portable devices, support software applications that display interactive digital maps (“mapping applications”). For example, mapping applications may run on laptop and tablet computers, mobile phones, car navigation systems, hand-held global positioning system (GPS) units, etc. Many of these devices are equipped with a touchscreen, a touchpad, or are otherwise configured to receive input that includes finger gestures. A user may, for example, may pan across a map by swiping her finger in the desired direction, zoom in on an area by pinching two fingers together, etc.
In general, a mapping application can display various types of geographic data including topographical data, street data, urban transit information, and traffic data. Further, the geographic data may be schematic or based on photography, such as satellite imagery. Still further, a mapping application can display the information in a two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) format.
A user sometimes may operate a mapping application to view a map of an urban area rendered two-dimensionally and schematically to better see street names, names of landmarks, etc. However, such maps may include multi-story buildings for which additional floor-specific information is available. For example, different information may be available for each of ten floors of a building, and it is difficult for a mapping application to display this information two-dimensionally without creating confusion and clutter. On the other hand, displaying information for a multi-story building as part of a 3D map can result in some of the information being obscured.